Wellbeing at SACARE: How to Manage Stress

Did you know that one in five Australians experience moderate to severe depression symptoms that are stress related? (According to the 2015 Stress and
Wellbeing Survey.) Scarily, the majority of diseases are related to stress. It is absolutely imperative that our stress is looked after and managed. This
year SACARE is making a commitment more than ever to support our team, including support workers and our office staff, through their journey to optimal
health. Each month this year, we have a different theme related to health and wellbeing and we kicked off 2018 by hosting Wellbeing Workshops. Our HR Coordinator,
and wellbeing guru Felicity Wood held several workshops to introduce the importance of wellbeing and looking after ourselves. Each workshop focused on
had one goal - to come up with a simple energy ritual that we could each repeat daily in order to manage our stress.

Flic commenced these workshops by explaining the energy quadrant, a tool that helped us to understand our emotions and energy levels and to look at ways
on how we can balance them.

We then made a simple list of everything in our life that drains our energy and creates negative emotions which places us in the “survival” or “burnout”
sections, as seen in the diagram above. This could be from difficult situations at work, to taking care of your sick child.We followed this by writing
down everything that refueled our energy and made us feel more positive. For example, happy clients to socialising with friends. So, how to find that
balance?

Here are the top five things you could be doing to refuel your energy during stressful times that will help trigger positive emotions:

Take a few breathsThis helps to clam your physiology and switch gears from whatever were focused on before.

Grab a healthy snackKeeping your blood sugar steady is crucial to your focus, your mood, and your performance.
At SACARE we have a help-yourself staff pantry and fridge that is filled with nutritious ingredients to make a healthy breakfast, lunch and snacks.

Take a power napEven a 15 minute nap can increase your energy and leave you as energised at 4:00pm as you were at 10:00am.
At SACARE, we make sure we have a comfortable “nap bed” available at our facilities, including our head office for our over-night shift workers.

Walk around the blockGetting out of the office into the fresh air and sunlight to move your body is an
effective and efficient way to renew your energy both mentally and emotionally.

StretchTaking a few minutes to stretch out the muscles that feel the tightest leaves your body feeling looser and more relaxed.
At SACARE, our in-house fitness trainer, Salli Toovey comes to our office gym 6 times a week to give a 45 minute exercice and stretching blast
for our staff including support workers.

After discussing our individual stresses and things that make us feel good, we conducted an energy audit from The Energy Project, and came up with one
individual Energy Ritual we could practice. For example:

“I will improve my physical energy by eating breakfast every day and exercising. The exercising ritual is working cos Salli (The SACARE Personal Trainer)
will kick my butt if I don’t but the breakfast ritual hasn’t been happening…”
– Phuong Doan, Accountant

" I will eat breakfast every day and do yoga daily. Yoga has been happening but breakfast is a bit sporadic. My partner and I have been checking
in!"
- Deb Johnstone, Manager of Tolley House.

What will yours be?!

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here.